| When patients visit a hospital in China seeking cure for anything from cold to cancer, they more often than not end up getting prescribed both western drugs and Traditional Chinese Medicine. TCM is a system that includes acupuncture, massage and herbal medicines to improve the immune system and treat chronic diseases. Despite having a more than 2,000-year history, questions remain about the effectiveness of traditional Chinese treatments. The views have generally fallen at the extreme end of both sides of the debate, with one side claiming it to be superior to western medicine, often with little solid evidence, and the other blindly dismissing it as pseudoscience. The discussion has been rekindled anew by a study published in The Lancet that showed a popular Chinese herbal medicine was ineffective. The study by researchers from Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine and Fudan University in Shanghai, examined the effectiveness of Zhongfeng Xingnao, a concoction made from herbs including red ginseng for treating blood clots that form within the brain tissue. It is significant because it put the traditional medicine through randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled clinical trial — the kind of rigorous and robust testing that all modern medicines go through to win regulatory approvals for wider public use. The result: "The medicine showed no effect on functional recovery, survival, and health-related quality of life in patients," concluded the paper. The medicine featured in the study was developed in the 1980s by a much venerated TCM doctor at a hospital in China's western Sichuan province, and has been prescribed to patients for nearly half a century. Concoctions that are considered classic TCM formula are usually exempt from standard clinical trials and review process for drugs in China. For China, the stakes are high. Beijing not only encourages TCM's use within its borders, but has also been promoting its use abroad with 30 traditional medicine centers built in countries including Mauritius, Czechia and Cambodia. On China's X equivalent Weibo, medical science bloggers hoped that the latest findings will help end people's superstition and blind faith in TCM. But supporters demurred, saying the study only declared one TCM concoction ineffective and that traditional treatments should be evaluated differently from western medicines, and not limit evidence supporting its effectiveness to clinical trials. While the debate is far from over, the crucial takeaway from the study goes beyond this one drug. The researchers rightfully pointed out that more TCM medicines need to be put through rigorous trials, especially when the drugs are being widely used around the world. We may find that some treatments work and others don't, and the benefits or shortcomings of the centuries old medicinal system will only become clearer with more scientific testing. | 
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